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WONG KIM ARK
On March 28, 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco-born Chinese American, was a U.S. citizen — despite the fact that his parents had been excluded from citizenship by the Chinese Exclusion Act. Wong had sued the federal government after being denied re-entry to the U.S. following a visit to China. The ruling established the principle of birthright citizenship for all those born in the United States under the 14th amendment.
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ANNA MAY WONG
Born Liu Song in Los Angeles’ Chinatown on January 3, 1905, Anna May Wong is considered the first Chinese American movie star, acting in many films in the 1920s and 1930s and becoming an iconic exemplar of the era’s “flapper” fashion. Frustrated by Hollywood’s endemic racism — Wong was famously passed over for the role of a Chinese character in The Good Earth in favor of a white actress — she continued her career in Europe before dying in relative obscurity in 1961.
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DALIP SAUND
When Dalip Saund was elected to represent California’s 29th district on January 3, 1957, he became the first Indian American, Asian American, and Sikh to join Congress. Saund, a trained mathematician, became interested in politics after purchasing a ranch during the Great Depression, when he witnessed the struggles of his neighbors; the experience turned him into an advocate of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Saund ultimately served three terms in Congress where he championed civil rights legislation as well as the rights of small farmers.
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Helen Zia participates in a Vincent Chin rally in Detroit in 1983.
Victor Yang/China Times
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LARRY ITLIONG
In 1965, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee — a California union led by the Filipino American Larry Itliong — began the Delano Grape Strike, prompting a global boycott of grapes. Itliong’s largely Filipino workforce collaborated with Cesar Chavez’s Latino farm hands to form United FarmWorkers, and five years later, they won better pay, benefits, and protections — a breakthrough that eventually led to farmers obtaining collective bargaining rights.
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KALPANA CHAWLA
Born in Karnal, India, in 1961, Kalpana Chawla nurtured a lifelong dream to fly. After obtaining a degree in aerospace engineering, Chawla immigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s and was selected as an astronaut in 1994. Three years later, she became the first Asian American woman to visit space when she served aboard the space shuttle Columbia. In 2003, while onboard the Columbia for her second mission in space, Chawla was among seven astronauts killed when the spaceship tragically disintegrated upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere due to a technical failure. She has since received many posthumous honors in the United States and is considered a national hero in her native India.
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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at Asia Society
Asia Society celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with events, interviews, and a spotlight on the accomplishments of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). This May, and throughout the year, visit AsiaSociety.org/AsianAmerica regularly for new events, interviews with prominent AAPIs in their fields, podcasts, videos, archival content, and more.
